The Forest
by SaberTail
Summary: It is a dangerous and thrilling place. TMNT AU


The hunt. It is primal, built on instincts, but it was morphed with this new technology one hundred years ago. Alopex is the best. Well, save for the true masters, but they were growing old, and it was becoming apparent that a new generation needed to step up, take their place. Alopex was obviously leading them. She was the best after all. Her twin kama danced in her hands as she sniffed the air. Every bit of her took in the snowy surroundings.

She didn't get much. She cursed inwardly and leapt off one branch to the next. When she hunted, each weapon was the wind, flowing in front of her effortlessly. She is the best, but this tracking stuff… well she wasn't bad at it, but her skill at finding prey never matched her mastery at killing it.

She stopped, tried again, and growled when she again came up empty. Alopex clung to branch after branch, stopped to sniff, and grew increasingly impatient each time the search yielded no results. The seasons were just changing, she tried to tell herself. Prey was still scarce. Hiding in their holes like the cowards they were. And if not hiding they were conserving their energy, biding their time until spring chased away the snow and silence.

She was about to go return. Her close knit group would forgive her for not finding something in this unforgiving ice. That's why she'd joined them. They were more reasonable than the old koots. The true 'masters'.

Still, she tried once more. Forgiveness did not usually cover disappointment, and she hit the mark. "Rabbit." The whispered word froze on the air.

She closed in fast. A killer's greatest weapon is surprise. There he was, now it was just a matter of getting a little clos-

"Foxes are usually quieter."

She would've been insulted, had she not been so surprised. Usually prey didn't notice until their last breaths were dripping onto the ground in shiny crimson, but this one heard her before she could even strike. Even more shocking was that he hadn't run. When she was a pup, prey spotted her all the time. She tended to trip over her feet because she was bouncing up and down so much from excitement. However, even then, when she barely posed a threat due to her small stature, any prey would scamper away, desperate to free themselves from her gaze.

This rabbit didn't even flinch.

When she realized that, the insult finally stung her. How dare her prey, her food critique her on her hunting skills. Even worse, how dare he not fear her to the core.

She leaped, her kama flashing in front of her. She had already planned to kill him, but now she would take some definite pleasure in it. The first blow was a complete failure. Her prey caught it in a tessen, splayed open almost too quickly for her to see. He flicked his arm and her kama flew, thunking into a tree a few yards away.

Her second blade followed naturally. One part of the same whole. He barely saw it in time, pushing away to avoid having one of his tall ears sheared off. Still her blade and his fur were stained crimson. It dripped from his brow, above his left eye. He touched it gently, but only for a second. Alopex leapt again, no use in playing with her food, especially when she was this annoyed with it. He was light on his feet though, and again narrowly avoided her strike. This time her blade ripped into the haori he wore. Another small cut, but there nonetheless.

Her next strike was blocked. He wasn't half bad with that tessen, but it wasn't enough. He caught the blow weird, and it was he wasn't the only one who could disarm. His fan went into the white powder at their feet. Alopex swung down again, sure she would strike flesh this time. Instead of a solid, satistfying thunk, the sound of clashing metal stung her ears.

Not another fan, but a sword, as sharp and cold as the snow falling around them. The tip of her blade touched his black nose, but as far as Alopex could tell no real damage had been done. She struggled for a moment, trying to push her weapon forward to actually cause some sort of harm, however minute. It proved useless. They each sprung back, out of reach.

She didn't get good at this by giving up, so she sprung back onto him, kama raised with new ferocity. He was even faster with his sword though and blocked that attack too. Metal clanged against metal every time Alopex slashed the air, but nothing else. However, much to Alopex's delight it seemed the rabbit was running out of ground to defend. The trees were all shriveled and dead, but their trunks still stood proudly, and he was about to back right into one. There would be no escape, and the restricted movement would prevent him from blocking her blows effectively.

His eyes widened when his back hit the bark, and the fear she sensed made her mouth run rivers. She lifted her blade, and swung. The blow was again stopped, but the rabbit had not made any movement to raise his sword, instead seeming to accept there was no more fighting to be done, he'd closed his eyes instead. Now though he cautiously cracked open an eye, as if sudden movements could cause him pain.

"What are you doing out here, Usagi?" The voice didn't really sound questioning to the fox. More angry… no sad… something in-between.

The rabbit blinked, unbelieving. Alopex too, could hardly wrap her head around how quickly this turtle had appeared without alerting her heightened senses.

"L-Leonardo?" He stammered.

The turtle nodded curtly and turned to stare murderously at Alopex. "And what do you think you're doing?" He asked, each word laced with a venom that sounded as deadly as his twin katana.

His icy blue eyes narrowed, contrasting even further with this… Usagi's wide pinkish red ones. Which was why it came as a surprise when the turtle pressed the tip of his free sword to her throat and whispered "If you ever try to even so much as touch my brother again, the ground will be stained with your blood."

Alopex dropped her weapon and backed away slowly, hoping that her overconfidence hadn't landed her in a situation that she could not handle.


End file.
